


you will remember every choice you swore you would forget

by Snacky



Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Gen, Post-Season/Series 07, Prompt Fic, Tumblr Ask Box Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 08:39:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13760367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snacky/pseuds/Snacky
Summary: Originally posted on tumblr, from this prompt:"ASoIaF or GoT - Arya & Jaime, Facing Sibling Choices"





	you will remember every choice you swore you would forget

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Merfilly](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/gifts).



Arya stands on the walls of Winterfell, the winds swirling snow around her, as she gazes up at the dragons circling overhead. She’s alone, as much because of the cold and snow as because of the dragons. Northerners don’t mind the cold as much as all the southerners who are crowded inside of Winterfell right now, but they’re not particularly fond of dragons.

Arya can’t say she bears any great love for the beasts flying across the grey sky; still, they’re amazing to watch. Beautiful and terrible all at once. And hopefully they will help in the coming war, since that was why Jon brought Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons here after all.

She hears footsteps approaching and she wonders who it could be — not Sansa nor Jon, she knows — both are busy with the Dragon Queen and their councilors. Arya’s good at recognizing the approach of almost everyone in Winterfell, but these footsteps are strange to her, and finally she turns. The person she sees is not one she expects

“Kingslayer.”

“My name is Jaime.” He says it with a slight smirk, but there’s no humor in his eyes, and the look on his face is beyond tired. It’s old. As old as Arya feels. 

“I should kill you,” she says, her hand going to Needle’s hilt at her waist. But it’s idle talk, not a threat. Jaime Lannister was never on her list. Nor was Tyrion Lannister. It’s funny in a way, that the only Lannister she truly means to kill is the only one not in Winterfell.

Jaime Lannister just arches an eyebrow in response to her words. “I suppose you should. As everyone has said since I’ve arrived at Winterfell, I deserve it. You could get it over with.”

“I could.” She won’t, though. Not now, even if he does deserve it. Not when he’s come to help them fight what seems to be a doomed war. “Why did you come here anyway?”

He points to the sky. “I wanted a better look at the dragons, just like you." He pauses and Arya sees that smirk on his face again. "Oh, wait, did you mean why did I come to Winterfell?”

Arya nods. “You can’t have thought you’d be welcome.” 

“Even though I was leading an army? I thought that might gain me entry to you walls.”

He has the right of it, and it certainly had — all his men were welcomed to Jon’s — and the Dragon Queen’s — armies. “That still doesn’t say why.”

The Kingslayer looks at her for a long moment. “I seem to remember my sister saying how annoying you were as a child.” He shakes his head and sighs. “I gave my word that I’d come, that I’d join the fight.”

“Surely you’ve gone back on your word before?” It’s a lesson Arya’s learned — that she doesn’t need a sword when she can twist her words like a knife.

“Yes.” It’s curt but another thing Arya’s learned is how to read faces, and right now, Jaime Lannister’s is an open book. 

“Queen Cersei went back on her word.”

“My sister will do as she chooses. And I will do the same.”

“Even if that means fighting against her?” It’s hard for Arya to imagine. Even with Jon bending the knee to Daenerys Targaryen, she will be loyal to him, as will Sansa, as will Bran. _The pack survives,_ she hears her father’s voice reminding her. They need each other to survive this winter, this coming war.

Perhaps, though, the Lannisters survive better on their own.

“I … I don’t intend for it to come to that,” he says, but she sees in his eyes that he fears it.. He shivers and it's not just from the cold, Arya thinks. Any way she looks at it, Jaime Lannister's future seems bleak.

“You know the Dragon Queen and my brother will come for her, after the war is won.”

“ _If_ the war is won,” he says sharply, then sighs again. “Yes, I imagine they will. But Cersei made her choice, just as I made mine. Just as your brother made his, kneeling to Queen Daenerys.”

“Well…” Arya glances up at the dragons, her eye caught on the green scales of the one called Rhaegal, as green as grass on a long-gone summer day. Hopefully an omen that they’ll see summer once again. “We can’t make their choices for them, can we? All we can do is make the best of what we choose.”

He doesn’t seem to have an answer to that, just stands beside her and watches the dragons wheel in the sky as the snow piles up on the ground. But eventually he speaks, and his voice is quiet, almost a confession. “I’ve never made the best of what I’ve chosen before. I think this is my last chance to do so.”

Arya knows about bad choices. She’s made them, the Kingslayer’s made them, Jon’s made them, Sansa’s made them, and so has Bran. She also knows that if the situation was any different, any less dire, she might be skewering Jaime Lannister where he stands. But that’s just another choice she has to make, in an endless series of them. “Let’s hope we both make the best of our choices then.”

He doesn’t look away from the dragons, just remarks, “You’re a strange girl.”

It’s not the first time Arya’s heard that, and watching the dragons with the Kingslayer while contemplating life choices isn’t the strangest thing she’s ever done, so she just shrugs. “So I’ve been told.” 

They watch the dragons until the snow grows too fierce. And then Jaime Lannister follows Arya into the walls of Winterfell, where more choices await them.


End file.
